COMSTOCK PARK -- The season's Midwest League batting title likely will go down to the final at-bat of the regular season for West Michigan's Billy Nowlin and Cedar Rapids' Alexia Amarista.

The two are tied with the league's highest batting average at .319 entering Wednesday's games. Both have six games remaining in the regular season. The Whitecaps and Kernels were off Tuesday.

Nowlin's 3-for-4 performance Monday in an 8-2 loss to the Fort Wayne TinCaps vaulted him to the top spot in the batting race.

If Nowlin succeeds, he would be the second MWL batting champion in the Whitecaps' 15-year history. Robert Fick won the title in a memorable 1997 campaign that featured a 32-game hitting streak and a .341 average.

"You look up and see who is sitting where. I'm lying if I say I haven't looked at the batting race," said Nowlin, who was drafted in the 25th round by the Detroit Tigers in 2008.

Nowlin leads the Whitecaps in home runs (13) and RBIs (76).

"It's getting toward that time, and it would be sweet to win a batting crown, but winning a championship would be even better," he said.

Gustavo Nunez

Lurking seven points behind Nowlin and Amarista is the Whitecaps' Gustavo Nunez at .312, and if West Michigan's Brandon Douglas reaches 378 plate appearances this season, he also would qualify for the batting crown.

Douglas, who is batting .324, has 352 plate appearances and likely will come up a few short even if he averages four at-bats in the last six games.

West Michigan opens a three-game series at Lansing on Wednesday night and closes out the regular season at Fifth Third Ballpark against the TinCaps in a three-game series that starts Saturday.

Nowlin split his first professional season in the Gulf Coast League and Oneonta last season, compiling a .241 batting average.

Nunez, who signed as a free agent with the Tigers in 2007, is in his third pro season and has never finished with a batting average higher than .284, his first season in the Dominican Summer League.

He is a bit of a long shot to win the batting crown, but the Whitecaps' leadoff man can't be ruled out because of his great speed. He is third in the MWL with 44 steals.